XCOM 2: Fire in the Night
by alimination602
Summary: Awaking to another utopian morning in the settlement of New Luxembourg Alicia Taylor prepares to face the coming day and all it will bring.
1. Empty Quiver

Chapter 1: Empty Quiver

Alicia Taylor was awoken by the sharp tones of her phones morning alarm. She didn't so much regain consciousness as feel her tranquil serenity being ripped from her by the devices incessant beeping. It seemed despite experiencing a technological renaissance that thrust humanities transport, medical and communications technologies hundreds of years ahead of its time someone had yet to devise a more pleasant way of waking up in the morning.

Alicia reached out to silence the offending speaker with a clumsy flail of her hand, a near miss forcing her to make a second attempt as she finally struck the silence button. The interminable noise silenced she begrudgingly rolled out of bed to face the day that was to come.

"Ugh" Alicia groaned hoarsely. "Rachel, TV on"

" _As you wish_ " the simulated voice replied.

At her instruction, her apartments artificial intelligence activated the television on the far wall of the open plan apartment. The first channel that came on, as always, was the state approved ADVENT News Network.

" _-Top story today_ " the newscaster announced. " _Construction has begun on a new clean energy facility on the south coast of the of the British settlement…._ "

Alicia went about her usual morning routine. Walking into the kitchen she retrieved a bowl of cereal and fruit from the cabinet, eating to the tune of the news broadcast playing in the background. After breakfast, she headed into the bathroom to shower, feeling the warm cascade of the water over her heated to just the right temperature.

Returning to her bedroom, refreshed and ready for the day, she settled on an office casual outfit consisting of dark trousers and a snow-white top lined with icicle blue trimming. Opening the top drawer of her dresser she retrieved the small laser pistol concealed underneath a pile of freshly pressed tops. The weapon would likely prove little use if she ever came to needing it but it none the less remained a source of comfort as she willingly marched herself into the lions' den.

As one of the new prototype laser pistols remanufactured from the aliens' own weapons technology the techs on the Avenger assured her it wouldn't register on the alien's scanners. Probably. Sequestering the weapon in the hidden pocket of her jacket she steeled herself to step out of her apartment and into the street, prepared to play the role of the perfect ADVENT citizen.

Walking down the spotlessly clean streets of this glittering utopia of New Luxembourg City her mind began to wonder of what things had been like before the invasion. At 25 years old her memories of life before the occupation were few and vague at best. But if archive TV shows were to be believed it was a hilarious laugh a minute comedy intermixed with hopeless romanticism intercut with grand gestures of love. She began to ponder if any of those living in the settlement, those who experienced it and those who did not, ever considered what life was like before. Or maybe they were so caught up by the stories of the aliens being able to read minds that they never deviated from the state sponsored happy thoughts even within their own heads. In reality, the stories were true, but it was unlikely that happy thoughts would have helped either way.

As she continued her morning walk she withdrew her phone from her pocket, to all the world appearing to be musing herself with some idle distraction or another. The truth was that the device had been stripped of all but its most basic functions, lacking the navigation and interconnectivity and therefore tracking capability present in all phones available within the settlements. It would have been strange for her not to at least appear something to have one to hand so this served as the most effective compromise.

Glancing up from her phone she finally began to take in the view of the glistening skyscrapers which rose high around her on all sides. She had never liked cities, having grown up in the countryside in England. But she remembered dad having mentioned coming here for business one time, how he described the rich culture of the historic district.

After the alien regime change she had relocated with her mother and father to the newly created settlement founded over what had once been London. At first it had seemed idealistic, but only a few years later a freak road accident had taken her mother away from her, it seems some tragedies persisted into this new world order.

Shortly after her twenty-first birthday her father had begun to develop the initial signs of Cancer. A visit to the local Gene Therapy clinic lead to a recommended transfer to a facility in New India for specialist treatment. Alicia offered to go with him but her father had insisted her work was too important to give up. She lost contact with him shortly after he left.

Attempting to gain any information through the local Gene Therapy office proved fruitless. But it was during one of her frequent trips to the clinic to consult with another in an endless stream of bureaucrats or doctors that she began to hear talk of others who had lost contact with relatives sent for treatment. At first she ignored it but the more times she visited the greater in number the stories grew, each sharing common elements and themes. After deciding to seek answers herself she travelled to the facility in New India only to be told that they had no record of her father ever being admitted for treatment.

Her suspicions raised even further Alicia decided to seek out a group she had heard rumour of who were investigating the disappearances. It seemed that just knowing of their existence was enough to warrant a visit from the authorities and she soon found herself in ADVENT custody. It was only the timely intervention of operatives of a group previously unknown to all but a few that saved her from disappearing herself. This was how she found her slef a part of the revived XCOM project under the leadership of the same Commander who had resisted the initial invasion.

After some initial training, she was inducted in XCOMs strike team as a Specialist. While her skills were more technically based than suited for infiltration it was decided she would be the best operative to undertake this assignment.

Adams, the teams' demolition specialist and a veteran of the first XCOM project, freely admitted that he was far more suited to the role of destroying targets rather than attempting to subvert them.

Sterling, their recon and assault specialist, had been the initial choice only for some initial investigation to discover that he was still on an active wanted list in the settlements. As far as could be ascertained he was wanted by the ADVENT for the damage done during his escape from the Frankfurt settlement involving some X4 charges and a modified steamroller. Security camera footage obtained after the event showed him riding the vehicle through the city centre while yelling to his accomplice (Rough translation) ' _Drive closer, I want to hit them with my sword!_ '.

And Croshaw, the teams' sharpshooter, agreed to do it on the condition that she be allowed to wear her Serpent Suit crafted from the remains of the Viper King. She always had been a strange one. Although, perhaps not as strange as the person on the R&D team with the dark sense of humour to come up with the design in the first place. Lieutenant Edwards said it was the alien equivalent of turning Her Majesty the Queen into a fetching battle-ready onesie.

PRESENT IDENTIFICATION

Alicia suddenly found herself bathed in a beam of blood red light, a mechanical voice calling out to her from overhead. She topped in her tracks.

 _Time to see if Tygan understands alien technology as much as they claim._

Alicia reached into her pocket and held up her falsified administration identity card for inspection. If it turned out Tygan and his team were less adept than they thought this operation would be over before it could even begin. The red light tightened around her as the scanner performed its analysis. If it found her wanting, it would only be a matter of seconds before the ADVENT-

IDENTITY CONFIRMED. TURNER, CHARLOTTE.

The red beam dissipated as quickly as it had emerged, leaving her free to continue her way. Alicia wasted little time before resuming her walk, eager to remove herself from the scanners range before it could request a second investigation of her ID. But even as she walked away that name continued to stick to the forefront of her mind.

 _Charlotte Turner, her mother's maiden name. Clearly someone on the development team had a dark sense of humour._

Turning the corner onto the next street she finally caught sight of her objective, a nondescript office building overlooking the main city square which housed the European Headquarters of the ADVENT Transport Operations division. From here a combination of human office workers and artificial intelligences co-ordinated ADVENTs road, rail and flight operations for the entire continent. This marriage of human and computer labour begged the question of why such a thing proved necessary in the first place. Even before the invasion humanity was on the verge of completely automating their logistics and transport infrastructure in developed countries within the next few decades. With the introduction of the alien's technology, and a twenty year advance no less, this kind of work should prove mere child's play for a suitably advanced AI.

Perhaps their alien overseers considered such trivial work below even the worth of an AI. The much more sinister explanation was that the conquers realised that leaving their subjects without purpose would only leave them time to contemplate rebellion and dissent. Better to keep the wheel turning just enough to keep the population docile.

Allowing humanity to take their place in their operations may prove their undoing however, because Alicia was going to use what she learned here to bring ADVENT to their knees.


	2. Peace Through Unification

Chapter 2: Peace Through Unification

Alicia entered the main atrium of the ADVENT office building, a large open space awash with a sea of exclusively human office workers, officials and a few security personnel. From the outside, the office appeared to be nothing more than a non-descript administration building like any other in the city, but within stood the beating heart of Europe's entire ADVENT administered Transportation and logistics network.

Walking towards the back of the atrium Alicia scanned her ID on the door leading to the employee offices, the reader beeping and the door releasing with a mechanical clunk. Alicia strode through the halls of the offices with a confident stride. In her previous life her father had taught you could enter almost anywhere by simply appearing as though you should be there. That little piece of advice had served her well during her time here, even if she felt constantly exposed to be walking around without her armour.

Alicia had been living her life as an ADVENT citizen for several weeks now, going to work, socialising, trying to appear as close to normal as one could expect from someone under a benevolent occupation. According to the techs on-board the AVENGER it was easier to make use of an existing ID of a deceased person with a similar history than it was to attempt to falsify an entirely new identity. One of their earlier raids had given them low level access to some of ADVENTs administration networks, at least for now. It was a relatively simple process: Find someone with characteristics similar to the operative, change a few details in the central databases, live their life for as long as necessary and then change it back. As long as no one looked too closely the change would go by unnoticed.

Alicia found her way to her desk amongst the sea of near identical workstations. Sitting down at her desk she used her ID to log into her terminal. She rubbed her eyes in a vain attempt to conceal her creeping fatigue from those around her. She hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights. Nightmares of a late-night ADVENT raid had led her to keeping a pistol under her pillow, preferring the reliability which came with conventional human technology over anything based on the alien's technology, human reverse engineered or otherwise.

She didn't dare take anything for it. Pre-invasion medication was an incalculable luxury even amongst the more prosperous of the human enclaves beyond ADVENTs control and she could never trust in the alien manufactured treatments.

Alicia began her morning routine reading her emails. Amongst the usual company progress reports and updates was an alert regarding insurgent attacks in Madrid and Tokyo.

' _Seems the Avengers been busy without me'_

ADVENT was of course quick to spin the attacks in their favour, utilising it as an excuse to raise the security level in the other settlements in Europe and Asia and warning citizens to remain vigilant. Alicia already felt tense and distant even as she walked amongst her fellow humans, as far as she could tell, to the threat of an increased security level did little to worry her.

It was what ADVENT wanted, humans suspicious of their fellow humans so that they would prove easier to control. It was an age-old strategy employed by almost every occupying force throughout human history. This was exacerbated by the ceaseless propaganda broadcast throughout the settlement. She remembered dad once joked it was the same before the invasion, ADVENT was merely being alot less subtle about it. Maybe they weren't so different from the aliens after all. Alicia forced herself to stay focussed. For the time being it would be a completely normal day with absolutely nothing-

" _You ok?"_

Alicia's heart skipped a beat in her chest. Alicia glanced around to see her co-worker, Sarah, sitting down at the desk alongside her with a fresh cup of tea in her hand.

Sharing a workspace since she'd arrived here, the two of them had quickly become fast friends, sharing a passion for computers and tinkering with electronics. The two had been out to drinks after work on occasion, even going so far as to jokingly flirt with the idea of a romantic liason. But Alicia knew that there was no basis for such a relationship, despite their compatibility Alicia knew that there was little hope for a long-term relationship.

"You look a little off" Sarah said.

"Yeah" Alicia said hoarsely. "A bit of a rough night"

"You need some tea" Sarah replied, holding out a freshly brewed cup to her colleague. "It'll perk you right up"

An alert came from her phone, a simple series tones disguised amongst her usual text alert that could only mean one thing. "I should go" Alicia said without even looking to check her phone. Alicia left her desk without another word and walked through the office.

The alert came from the local resistance contact confirming that they had secured the ID card necessary to access the server room. She'd never met her contact face to face, and chances are she never would. The resistance was based on a cell structure and relied on dead drops to send messages and deliveries, about as close to a safe way to communicate as you could get in the Settlements.

Alicia's previous attempts to access the required information from her work terminal had proved fruitless. While she could access some of the information she needed a lot of it conflicted with the reports the AVENGER had been receiving from the resistance reports. This lead her to suspect either ADVENT had taken to falsifying data in their own system or the intelligence from the resistance cells was incorrect, possibly a trap. Alicia suspected the former, but she couldn't rule out the possibility of the latter. She decided that the best way to know for sure was to access the server directly.

The reality of accomplishing such a feat was another matter altogether as only security and IT personnel had unrestricted access to the server room. Such individuals were watched closely by the administration and any report of them misplacing their ID or going missing would immediately raise alarms.

Alicia found her target, left inside a folder in the desk of a colleague who was on leave. Despite the new ADVENT administration becoming effectively paperless there were still files pre-dating the invasion which had yet to be transferred to the digital archives. Retrieving the folder from their desk drawer Alicia began idly leafing through it. The key card inside on the surface appeared to be an exact duplicate of her current ID, swapping the two on her lanyard she set out deeper into the office.

Although there were no set break periods of office staff the time was fast approaching when most of the staff would leave for lunch in the canteen or the city centre. This left the surrounding office space sparsely populated when Alicia reached the server room access door guarded by an electronic card reader

Unlike the majority of the facility she had seen this was a secure area. If the system detected an unauthorised ID attempting to gain access it would trigger an alert and ADVENT would be upon her in an instant. Time to find out either way. Alicia touched the ID against the card reader. Two sharp beeps, a dull clunk as the door catch released. She stepped inside and swiftly closed the door behind her before she could think otherwise.

A sharp chill hung in the air she stood, flanked on either side by cabinets filled with humming computers. Alicia approached the main access terminal, retrieving her phone and the adaptor cable from her pocket. Alicia found the access port and plugged in, the techs pre-prepared programme beginning automatically. As far as she'd been allowed to know by the research division the programme would shift its way through any system it could gain access to and capture any data of interest based on pre-determined criteria.

Once complete Alicia would leave the phone at a dead drop for the resistance to be returned to the Avenger while she made her getaway elsewhere. This strategy ensured at least one of them could make it back to the ship. She continued to let the programme do its work, all she needed to do was make sure nothing interrupted-

A sharp beep and a metallic click as the door lock released. Alicia turned, instinctively reaching for the pistol she had concealed in her jacket pocket. Using it in such a confined space surrounded by delicate computer equipment was a risk, she would have to rely on it as a last resort. A figure emerged from behind the bank of servers.

"Sarah" Alicia said. "What are you doing-"

"Alicia, I know what's going on" Sarah interrupted.

Alicia's attempts to put Sarah onto the back foot was foiled, the idea being to question the legitimacy of the other person first to reduce the chance that they would think to question you in return.

"I want to help you" Sarah said, grinding Alicia's thoughts to a halt with a single sentence. "I admit I don't know exactly what you're doing, whether you're on your own or part of one of the resistance groups. But I know you want to free us from the aliens"

"Sarah, I-" Alicia said.

"But it's more than that" Sarah took a first step forwards.

Alicia reached for her pistol. If she could just draw it she might not even need to-

Before she could respond Alicia felt Sarah's lips pressed against her own, her arms encircled around her waist. She couldn't think to react, couldn't think of what to do. Her first thought was to push her away but something stopped her, whether fear of discovery or something deeper that meant she couldn't bring herself to end the kiss.

Alicia's momentary lapse in thought was interrupted by a sharp pain radiating from her thigh. She pushed back against Sarah's embrace only to feel all the strength in her body leave her in an instant. Alicia's grip on her pistol loosened, falling from her hand and dropping to the ground.

"I'm sorry Alicia" Sarah reached down to retrieve the discarded weapon. " _Peace through Unification_ "

"Signal lost" the Avengers communication officer announced to the command staff and several strike team members that had assembled on the bridge in response to the latest occurrence in the current operation.

"Can you find it?" Central Officer Bradford asked.

"I'm trying sir" the COM officer responded. "No evidence of jamming, equipment is functional"

They all knew what that meant. They'd lost people before. The night of the raid on the XCOM base had seen the deaths of a lot of good people.

"Alright" Bradford interjected. "I'm sending in Menace 1-5. We find Taylor if we can, but the intel takes priority"

"I'll get my Serpent Suit" Snakebite replied gleefully.

"Bring us into position" Bradford ordered to his bridge staff.

"Affirmative sir" the flight officer responded. "Flight time to Western Europe, approximately six hours"

A long time. Perhaps longer than anyone could hope to last in the enemy's grasp.

" _Avenger plotting new course_ "


	3. Check-in, Check-out

Chapter 3: Check-in, Check-out

The Skyranger broke through the thin film of cloud that blanketed the city plaza. It had been six hours since last contact. Reaching the target location the strike team descended from the Skyranger, fast roping down onto the rooftop of a building overlooking the plaza. The five-member strike team assembled.

Benjamin Sterling was the team's assault and reconnaissance specialist. As the most senior operative he also served as the de facto team leader. He started out in the local resistance cell in Frankfurt. But when a weapons exchange with another resistance group had gone wrong he suddenly found himself high up on an ADVENT kill list. As fate would have it the deal was being held in a construction site where there just happened to be some heavy machinery just lying around. Sterling swiftly found himself making a decisive exit from the city, using a steamroller.

Samuel Adams, demolitions and heavy weapons, was a veteran of the original XCOM project. Born to Italian parents and raised in Australia he learnt his combat skills in the Australian Army and joked that the Chryssalids were little more than pests compared to some of the spiders that made their homes in the outback.

Lindsey 'Snakebite' Croshaw, Sniper, was something of the oddball of the group in more ways than one. Not much was widely known about her life before joining XCOM but she had demonstrated her abilities with a rifle on multiple occasions. After its development was complete, she insisted on being the one to field test the Serpent Armour, going so far as to paint black alien fangs across her eyes as a form of war paint. Croshaw later claimed it was something about knowing your enemy to fight your enemy. Those on missions with her even spoke of hearing a low hiss coming through her COM as she lined up to take her shots.

Aden O'Malley was an unconventional addition to the team. His service with XCOM followed having spent the better part of the initial invasion as a member of EXALT, the human supremacist group looking to harness the alien's powers for their own means. After the occupation was complete the organisation was quickly hunted down. The destruction of EXALT left its few scattered members to either surrender their allegiance or seek out an old enemy in the form of an uneasy alliance.

While O'Malley had never hid his former allegiance, he claimed to have never been an EXALT field operative himself. Instead he claimed his role had been working as a General Practitioner in Ireland treating, medically training and supplying EXALTs operatives. While his medical skills were never in question his account that his aptitude with firearms was the result of his regular pastime hunting game with a shotgun left many still sceptical.

SPARK, codenamed _Knightmare_ , was a prototype mech secured from a derelict manufacturing facility and now piloted by the AI Julian. Despite Chief Engineer Shens assurances that his revised programming ensured his loyalty to XCOM many operatives still kept a spare EMP grenade to hand at all times.

The team was almost invisible in their midnight camouflage as they took up positions at the edge of the rooftop. The disguise did little against Vipers or ADVENT troops with infrared viewers, but it remained a small comfort nonetheless.

"What are we looking at?" Sterling asked.

Snakebite hefted her Gauss Rifle, the latest toy to emerge from the Avengers Research and Development department, and peered through the sight down onto the square below. "ADVENT patrols across the square, watch towers guarding the main routes in and out" Snakebite adjusted the rifle in her arms. "Plus whatever reinforcements they have on standby"

"Just another day at the office" Adams quipped.

"Snakebite, stay up here and provide support fire" Sterling ordered.

"Roger" Snakebite set the barrel of her sniper rifle against the edge of the building for support as she continued to scan the area below them.

"Alright everyone, down we go" Sterling instructed.

The team secured their rappel lines to the side of the building and began their descent. Speed took precedence in this instance and the troops descended on their lines at best speed, eager to limit the amount of time they were left out in the open. Dropping down into the square the team moved to conceal themselves amongst the constellation of seats, supports and decorations laid out across the otherwise open square.

Sterling was the first to advance. Allowing the ADVENT trooper to walk past him on its patrol Sterling climbed over the bench and crept up behind the ADVENT trooper. Unsheathing his combat knife Sterling lunged forward and drove the tip of the blade into the opening between the soldier's armour plates. Although they may not be human it seemed that their physiology was close enough for such an attack to prove effective. The trooper convulsed with unnatural muscles spasms before falling limp in Sterling's grasp, he lowered the body before jerking the knife free in a shower of orange blood.

Adams and O'Malley followed suit to his left and his right respectively. Although their true talents may lie elsewhere they continued to hold their own when it came to matters of stealth. Another trooper and their officer fell with only a low, alien gurgle interrupting the nights looming quiet.

As they reconvened the team took up positions at the door to the operations building, the SPARK charging across the open square in their wake to meet them. They found the door to the operations building, usually a large glass entrance, secured behind a blast resistant shutter.

O'Malley was the person deemed suitable for the job. "Beginning infiltration"

As O'Malley's accompanying GREMLIN began its work dismantling ADVENTs cyber security Sterling took the moment of calm to check in with their overwatch. "Snakebite, you see anything?"

" _Nothing_ " Snakebite replied over the team COM. " _Wait, I think- shit!_ " The COM cut out abruptly.

"Snakebite?" Sterling asked into silence.

" _Get off me you alien f-_ " returned through the COM underlayed by a barrage of static.

"Snake, Snake!" Sterling called out.

Adams did not wait for the response. Breaking away from the team he used an adjacent drainpipe to reach the top of the nearby building. Running across the rooftop, leaping over an obstructive A/C unit despite his armament, he managed to find a vantage point.

From across the street he could only watch as Snakebite fought a hand to hand brawl with the larger ADVENT trooper, flailing the butt of her long rifle at her opponent as her best means of defence. The trooper swiftly tired of its prey's impudence and grabbed the long barrel of the rifle as she moved in for her next swing. Tearing the rifle from her hands the trooper cast it over the side of the building. With no other options Snakebite was forced to descend into full on melee, jabbing and punching at anything which came within reach of her arms.

Adams readied his cannon to intervene but found his sight being perpetually blocked by the ever-moving targets. His target never offered him a large enough window for the spray of the gun to not prove a lethal hazard to both parties.

The slug match continued as a contest of reach against flexibility, strikes overtaken by counters. ADVENT troopers were heavily modified with strength and endurance no human could hope to overtake alone. Unable to gain ground on her opponent Snakebite made for a desperate gambit, sacrificing her next punch to reach for her pistol at her belt. Snakebite brought her pistol up in an arc as she prepared to fire.

The ADVENT trooper was faster, grasping her exposed forearm he twisted sharply with inhuman strength. The pain was immediate and devastating, tearing its way up her arm until it erupted in her shoulder. Snakebite summoned her remaining strength to fire the pistol; the shot went wide. The trooper twisted again, her hand went limp. Snakebites pistol struck the rooftop in time with her knees, crouched with all her energy focussed on the single task of not descending into shock.

More ADVENT soldiers emerged from the roof access, a pair of troopers led by an officer. The officer barked a command as they prepared to fire. Through tear stung eyes Snakebite looked across to see Adams on the other rooftop. "Adams" Snakebite panted through the squad COM. " _Polish Waltz_ "

"Roger that" Adams replied affirmatively. Securing his cannon at his back he reached around to retrieve his grenade launcher, took aim and fired. The grenades arc brought it down at the feet of the line of ADVENT, throwing one trooper into the air with the force of the blast as the others were peppered with splinters of shrapnel.

Snakebite reached down to grab her pistol and brought it up in an arc. This time she didn't wait to aim, firing the moment she could wrap her finger around the trigger. The first shot went wide, the second struck the trooper in the centre of the chest. Kicking off with her legs Snakebite charged forward, tackling the trooper in the chest with the full force of her remaining good shoulder.

The trooper stumbled back against the guard railing. The metal strained at their combined weight before ultimately cracking and giving way, the two falling over the precipice into the abyss. Snakebite forced herself to turn in mid-air, thrusting her arm out before firing her grapple towards the side of the building, hoping beyond hope it would find purchase.

The rope snapped taut in an instant, arresting her descent and swinging her around into the side of the building. Snakebite struck the concrete face with her injured right shoulder, a fresh stab of pain tearing through her body. As her momentum deteriorated all she could do was hang forlornly from her grapple, an easy target for any one of the ADVENT below that dared to look up. Glancing down at the street she could make out what remained of the ADVENT trooper. It was safe to say he had come off worse in the engagement.

From his rooftop view Adams was the first to sight the swooping approach of the ADVENT dropship. "We've got more ADVENT incoming"

Adams first instinct was to help Snakebite. But looking across the way he would only watch as she began to lower herself down the side of the building as she continued to dangle one armed from her grapple. She was a sitting duck up there, but she had to take her time getting down. Adams chose instead to abandon his position and return to assist the rest of the team.

By the time he reached the ground floor the ADVENT dropship had already unloaded a fresh contingent of troopers accompanied by a Stun Lancer led by an Officer. The ADVENT group began making their advance towards the assembled XCOM group in front of the operations building.

Seemingly ignored by the ADVENT Snakebite finally reached the bottom of her descent, her shaking legs unable to support her as she was forced to prop herself up against the wall for support. Despite being out in the open and exposed she found it an appropriate time to take stock of what had just happened. Glancing across she could see the shattered remains of her rifle alongside the equally piecemeal trooper. This was a useful bit of field intelligence for Shen's R laser rifles don't bounce.

"We're in" O'Malley announced his success in breaching ADVENTs security, the doors to the operations building yawning opening at his request. Despite the way to continue their mission laying open that still left Snakebite on the far side of the plaza.

While the rest of the team engaged the ADVENT troopers, an exchange of conventional firearms and alien laser weapons, O'Malley and SPARK charged from cover towards their wounded comrade. With the rest of the team drawing fire the rescue team made it across unscathed.

O'Malley crouched down next to his patient, laying his rifle on the ground beside him. "Where's the pain?"

"My shoulder" Snakebite hissed through pursed lips.

O'Malley's reply was cut out by the report of gunfire from barrel of the SPARK's autocannon. "Might I suggest we make every effort to relocate to a more secure position, so we don't all die for the sake of your bruised shoulder"

Snakebite resisted the urge to reach up and punch the annoying robot with her remaining good arm. The moment of satisfaction would almost certainly not outweigh the shattered hand she would need to add to her list of grievances.

"The robots right" O'Malley admitted. "You can't stay here"

O'Malley reached down and helped her up to her feet, supporting her under the shoulder of her good arm. Supporting her injured arm as best she could Snakebite hobbled her way across the plaza, shielded from the advancing ADVENT only by the blanket of covering fire being laid down by Knightmare.

Joining Adams and Sterling at the door to the operations building the team made their way inside under their covering fire. The blast door fell back into place as soon as the team were inside, sealing them off from the outside world and chaos which no doubt persisted.

Snakebite was lowered against the wall to support herself as O'Malley knelt next to her to resume his treatment. O'Malley peeled back the thin skin of her armours under suit, finding her shoulder set at an unnatural angle.

"I'm going to have to set it back into place" O'Malley grasped her arm and her shoulder firmly in his hands. "You see, the most common mistake people make about treating an injury like this-"

A wet thwack resounded through the room, accompanied by a sharp hiss as the bone shifted back into place.

"Sorry" O'Malley said by way of recompense. Reaching for the Medkit at his belt he began applying the cooling spray to the wound. "You'll still require further treatment at base, but you should be fine for now"

"Can you still fight?" Sterling asked.

"My rifles bust, but I kept hold of my pistol" Snakebite presented her pistol still held in her good hand.

"Self-defence only" Sterling ordered. "I'm not carrying you out of here dead"

Snakebite nodded, raising herself to her feet with her good arm as she continued to feel the dull pain in her arm even through the drugs.

"Let's go" Sterling instructed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The strike team moved through the vacant office space, finding it eerily silent when devoid of the workforce which usually filled its halls. Security in the office areas was light, secured by doors which could be easily broken down or hacked as the need arose. It seems the administration didn't want to unsettle their workforce with too much open security.

They found the entrance to the back rooms at the far end of the facility, the door heavily secured against intrusion by the regular staff. The door controls were no match for the XCOM GREMLIN.

The door opened only to be immediately met by a barrage of gunfire, forcing them into cover. Sterling peered inside into what looked like a holding area. He could see the outline of an ADVENT Shield Bearer, Officer and a Trooper. Adams prepared a grenade, priming the device before throwing it into the room.

 _Two… three…_

The grenade detonated in a bright flash. Sterling charged through the door, his broadsword in his hand. His first swing cut down the wounded officer in front of him. O'Malley followed quickly behind, firing to catch the ADVENT Shieldbearer in the chest as he prepared to charge his shield.

Sterling saw the flash of red emerging at his side. He brought the broadside of his sword to deflect the Stun Lancers attack, flashes of red arcing off the surface as he resisted the attack. The deadlock broke, the Stun Lancer took another swing and forced Sterling back. Another swing, another step back. Sterling felt his back strike the wall behind him. The Stun Lancer readied another swing.

A burst of heavy gun fire ripped through the chest of the Stun Lancer, the body falling to the floor in a bloody heap. Sterling looked aside to see Knightmare reloading its smoking heavy cannon.

"You're welcome" Knightmare said with a smug undertone.

The décor shift between the central office and the holding area was unsettling. Intelligence said that the sites secondary function is as a holding facility before prisoners were transferred elsewhere out of the city. The fact that the administration considered the necessity to have a dedicated facility demonstrated quite how often they intended to use it.

O'Malley stepped forwards to access the main computer. According to the ADVENT records only one of the half dozen cells was currently occupied. Alicia. O'Malley's hands were a flurry of movement across the keyboard.

"Its open!" O'Malley called out to the team.

O'Malley and Adams rushed to find her while Snakebite and Sterling searched for the intel. They found Alicia laid out in one of the holding cells. O'Malley came forwards to check for signs of life, unconscious but alive.

"Menace 1-5 to Firebrand" Sterling spoke. "Ready for extraction"

"Roger, Firebrand inbound for extraction" Firebrand replied.

" _Menace 1-5, we are detecting Interceptors inbound on your current position_ " Bradford interjected. " _You need to get out of there now_ "

"Alright people" Sterling called out. "Taxis here and the meters running so let's make like a punnet of eggs and scramble"

An explosion erupted in the distance, the sound of screeched metal resonating through the office. ADVENT had broken through the blast door.

"We need a new exit" Sterling instructed. "Where's the back door?"

"Oh, sod the doors!" Adams interrupted.

Withdrawing his grenade launcher from his back Adams and readied his last grenade. He fired it towards the far end of the cell corridor. The grenade exploded on impact, erupting in a blast of flame and sending glass and masonry spitting in every direction.

As the shockwave dissipated they could finally hear the roar of the Skyrangers engine, the searchlight piercing through the thick veil of smoke. The fast rope dropped down into the building. The strike team rushed forward to ascend one by one. Knightmare was the last to exfiltrate as the first of the ADVENT troopers burst into the remains of the holding area.

"All operatives secure" Firebrand confirmed, rising back into the air the pilot engaged the engines. "Firebrand returning to base"


End file.
